Category: Electronics

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I’m a firm believer in one’s right to repair the stuff they’ve bought. That isn’t always easy when it comes to consumer electronics. Devices are designed with mass production in mind–not repair. Plus, most manufacturers would rather you toss a broken or dated device in favor of a new one.

So, I wanted to give a shout out to IFixit. I bought a replacement iPhone screen from them recently and the whole experience was great. It’s easy to figure out what you need based on your devices model, and they sell kits that contain all the tools you need since most of us don’t have tiny, Phillips-head screwdrivers. Their site has videos and step-by-step instructions with ample photos and comments from other repairers. Really top-notch, I highly recommend.

In a similar vein, but not electronic, Fix My Blinds has an excellent repair site–for window blinds. They have exploded diagrams of popular blind makes and models so you can buy just what you need, even if you don’t know the name of the thing. They also have great step-by-step instructions and videos. For the price of return shipping one set of blinds to the manufacturer, I have enough parts to do several re-stringing jobs. Nice!

This Pomodoro Timer puts my Pomodoro Timer Arduino Shield to shame. The copper wire sculpture is much more interesting than the flat PCB I used. Plus, it seems like there’s a bit of user configurability, which is totally absent in my design.

I really like this Every Day Calendar. It’s simple and I can see how it could be really effective at helping one do something every day.

This is almost like a physical version of the personal unit tests that I’ve written about before. One of these days, I hope to dust off that project. Maybe an Every Day Calendar would help to motivate…